jackal10

I find overnight or longer in the fridge equivalent to about 2 hours at room temperature. For a yeasted dough it can go into the fridge straight after shaping. For naturally leavened sourdough you might want to leave it out for an hour or two first. Of course this is over-simplified, since there are many different processes going on, each of which is differently temperature sensitive. The dough does not go from room temperature to fridge temperature instantaneously, but gradually cools - hence the two hours. At fridge temperature very little biological is going on. Some chemistry (for example the breaking down of starch to sugars by the acid environment) happens slowly, and some physical processes, mainly the diffusion and dissolution of CO2, and the exchange of CO2 and air in the outer dough layers, still happens. . I prefer to bake direct from the fridge. The dough is stiffer when cold, which can make wet doughs easier to handle. Retarded doughs, such as those overnight in the fridge have characteristic fine bubbles and often a redder crust, from the extra sugars.

Warmer is easier penetration etc. However above about 90F you will start denaturing the muscle protein and cooking the food, especially fish. So if you can as close to but not exceeding 90F/32C

I'm pretty certain the mixer is a Kenwood Major, but which size I can't tell.

Here is a wonderful recipe from my Danish friend Marianne, who makes very good bread. The long slow cooking is important. Danish Rye Bread Starter 3-4 Tbsp. Salt 1 ½ litre (1500 ml) water 750 g rye flour 750 g wheat flour 1000g cracked rye kernals 1 lager beer + water 100ml rye starter Mix the starter with salt. Add the water and stir till almost dissolved. Add rye and wheat flour and turn with a spoon till blended. Let rest covered overnight, preferably at a cool space. Next day mix in cracked rye plus beer and water. The consistency should be sticky and quite stiff. (Ex. 333 ml beer + 200 ml water or 250 ml beer + 280 ml water). Fill a jam jar ¾ up with mixture for new starter and keep it refrigerated till next baking. Scrape the dough into 2 greased bread tins and let rest at room temperature for at least 4 hours. Bake in bottom of oven for 1 hour at 100 degrees Celsius. Turn temperature to 200 degrees and bake for another hour. Brush the bread with butter and bake for a further ½ hour at 200 degrees. Remove from tins after 5 minutes and let cool on a rack.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/tv_and_radio/perfection/

I thought it was very well done. A major production with lots of information. If there was a fault its that there was so much information packed into it that many explanations were too brief. For example why did he add roasted cashew butter to the sauce? Nice to see Prof Laurie Hall showing NMR scans of exactly what happens when you marinate chicken,

err...no, I was raised reasonably but not meshuganer kosher, and I have very frum relatives, who will not eat my food. I've not kept Kosher since leaving home for University, over 40 years ago. Nor am I vegetarian. I guess http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_of_Faith (man invented God, not the other way round) best describes my beliefs now. That is Matt, the College's Head Chef in the photo above carving the pig. The pig was a saddleback, raised by one of my neighbors. I'm hoping for some of its sister soon. Besides I like porky goodness, What an adventure you will have! I do recommend for clarity the Hugh Fiercely Whipped River Cottage Pig-in-a-day online course and DVD, URL above.

Do you get the half with the head on? You might want to consult HFW's online course - excellent, and well worth the money, http://shop.rivercottage.net/rcv2/shop/onl...op=courses#1195 Many things you can do: a) (which I just did) Get together with the other half, invite 300 people, spit roast for 12 hours and serve pig in a bun to 300 people b) Butcher and freeze. Get a big freezer c) Make ham from the hind leg, and bacon from the back and some of the belly. Make brawn (headcheese) form the head, and sausages from the non-roasting bits, not forgettting pate form the liver...something like 20lb ham (for Xmas), 20lbs frying sausagesm 30lbs salamis and drying sausages, 20lbs bacon, 30lbs roasting joints and the rest bone waste and scraps...with some goodies like hocks and trotters and brawn d) Buy "Nose to Tail Eating" and "Beyiond Nose to Tail Eating" by Fergus Henderson (of St John) for inspiration, and the mysteries of "trotter gear", http://www.amazon.com/Whole-Beast-Nose-Tai...92815458&sr=8-1

No one has commented on the second series, just starting on UK BBC (and the web) http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/tv_and_radio/perfection/ Perfection itself, and a major production. Nice to see Prof Laurie Hall showing MRI scans of chicken marinating. However I felt a little more explanation as to why he did some things, like adding cashew butter to the sauce, would have helped.

Vegetarian food tastes much better when made with chicken stock instead of vegetable stock, although parve stock powder is OK but salty...

Alternate "small" and "large" courses. Never more than three courses of cutlery on the table. Other courses should have the cutlery brought in on the underplate A version if the classic progression: 1. Amuse 1 (served with pre-dinner drinks befoe sitting), May be just olives, or bite sized canapes 2. Amuse 2 Same but hot 3, Amuse 3 At table 4. Oysters or other shell fish 5. Soup (choice of thick or thin) 6. Fish 7. Salad or sorbet 8. Foie or Game 9. Asparagus or artichokes or pasta or melon or the like 10 Meat (with potato and vegetables) 11 Cold desert (ice) 12 Hot desert 13 Cheeses 14 Coffee. desert and petit four More courses can be added, such as a third sweet (chocolate)or a savoury, and fruit or desert can be a seperate course, or pairs of courses omitted. This is Service a La Russe, where each course is served at table, and was popular from the mid ninteenth century only. Before that it was Service a la Francais, where each series of dishes (a remove) was brought out at once - more like buffet style, before being rmoved for the next series,

Vit C powder (Ascorbic acid) is a dough improver. You use very small amounts, around 75ppm and it is a permitted additive. It acts as a oxidising agent helping gluten development, especially when using freshly milled flour, and gives a more tolerant dough. A purist, however would say that true artisanal breas should contain only flour, water, yeast and salt.

Cheats in my store cupboard: Tinned tomatoes (San Marzano) Heinz tomato soup (for the cook) Heinz Tomato ketchup Tinned beans (Baked but also butterbean and haricot. Much easier than starting from dried) Kosher Parve vegetarian chicken soup powder, Surprisingly good. (for emergencies and for those with beliefs) Canned corn Filo and puff pastry Canned croissant dough (great for minis for appetisers) Vitamin C powder (for bread dough) Dried skimmed milk powder (soft breads and also sausages)

Daniel: Could you point me at some of this original documentation please?

A friend asks: Does anyone have a recipe for George Eliot's famous Marmalade Brompton Cake? The only source for the assertion that George Eliot invented a fashionable cake seems to be the Wikipedia article on George Eliot. That has been copied, word for word, by other sources on the net. The WP article doesn't cite a source for this claim, so the factoid may just be a malicious joke. Not unknown on WP. Does anyone here know of a source that predates the WP article?

Chinese steamed bread buns (Bao) are usually a saltless dough

|I have some cheese left over after a party, I'm not concerned about the hard cheese - cheddar for example, since that will do well just kept cool, Its the Brie and the Tallagio that concern me - one whole one of each got forgotten. Can I freeze them? Wrapped well or vac packed?

Escoffier is surprisingly straightforward and clear. These stocks were made with trimmings and leftovers, mostly. Boiling fowl (chickens) are old, tough cheap and flavoursome, for example ex-layers, and may sometimes be had from Chinese markets. Frozen are fine, otherwise just use ordinary chicken, or cheap bundles of wings and the like. You just have to work backwards, since like most restaurant kitchens each dish depends on mise and stock preparations. Thus Poultry Glaze (Formula no.16) is reduced Poultry Base (Formula No 10) using the method for meat glaze (Formula no 15) My comments in <diamond brackets> 10 - White Veal Stock, and Poultry Stock Quantities for making 4 quarts 8lb shin of veal, or lean or fresh veal trimmings 1 or 2 fowls carcasses, raw if they are handy <meaning you can use the carcass left from a roast> 12oz carrots 6oz onion stuck with a clove 5 1/2 quarts cold water 4 oz leeks strung with a stick of celery 1 <herb> faggot including 1oz parsley, 1 bay leaf and a small sprig of thyme Preparation - Bone the shins, string the meat, break up the bones as small as possible, and put them <bones only> in a stewpan with the water. Place on an open fire <high heat>, allow to boil, skim carefully and then move to the side of the fire <low heat> to cook very gently for 5 hours. At the end of this time put the stock into another stewpan, add the meat and the vegetables, add water if necessary to keep the quantity of liquid at 5 quarts, let it boil, and allow to cook slowly for another 3 hours after which remove all grease from the stock , pass the latter through a fine strainer or colander and put aside until wanted. Remarks upon white stock One should contrive to make this stock as gelatinous as possible. It is therefore an indispensable measure that the bones are broken up and cooked for at least 8 hours. Veal never yields such a clear stock as beef, nevertheless the consomme obtained from veal should not be turbid. It must, on the contrary be kept as clear and white as possible. Poultry Stock is made by adding 2 old fowls to the above veal stock, and these should be put into the liquor with the meat, <the meat from the stock was sometimes used or sold for meat pies and staff food> 15 - Meat Glaze Meat glaze is made by reducing brown stock (Formula 7) in a large stewpan upon an open fire. As often as the stock is appreciably reduced, during ebullition <boiling>, it may be transferred to smaller stewpans, taking care to strain it through muslin at each change of stewpan. The glaze may be considered sufficiently reduced when it evenly veneers a withdrawn spoon. The fire used for reducing should gradually wane as the concentration progresses, and the last phase must be effected slowly and on a moderate fire. When it is necessary to obtain a lighter and clearer glaze the brown veal stock (Formula No 9) should be reduced instead of the Estouffade. 16 - Poultry Glaze Reduce the poultry base indicated in Formula 10, and proceed in exactly the same way as for meat glaze (Formula 15).

Not in Escoffier, Larousse, La Repertoire, or several others such as Lady Clark of Tillypronie. From the context and menus of the time I would guess a puree; perhaps mashed with dripping, hence Bovin. Not a dish known to the Cuisine Classique, but very good, and one for which the ingredients would be on hand.

The answer is rather more complex, and you need to understand a little about how an egg cooks. Egg white and egg yolk consist of a number of different proteins, each of which coagulate at different temperatures. The ones in the yolk coagulate at between 65C and 68C, while those in the yolk start at 65C but the major component , ovalbumin, doesn't coagulate until about 80 °C. Water boils at 100C, although or simmers at a little less. So how can we get the yolk to 65C or less and the white to 80C. We rely on the fact that the egg white doesn't conduct well, so when the egg is dropped in hot water it can be removed before the heat has penetrated to the yolk. Leave it longer, and the yolk heats up and get progressively harder. Of course how much heat needs to be transferred depends on the initial temperature of the egg - fridge or room temperature. At elevated altitudes water boils at a lower temperature (about 95C AT 5400), so the temperature gradient is less, and the time for the white to coagulate is longer, both of which make getting a hard white and a soft yolk harder. People have made mathematical models (see http://newton.ex.ac.uk/teaching/CDHW/egg/ , which recommends 5 minutes for a "3 minute egg" or Martin Lersch's page http://khymos.org/eggs.php or http://eriks-food-ucation.blogspot.com/200...g-egg-with.html One thing that might help is to put cold eggs from the refrigerator (pricked to stop the expansion of the gas bubble from cracking the shell) straight into boiling water, thus maximising the temperature gradient. Try around 6 minutes,

References can be wonderfully ambiguous: "If you can get this person to work with you, you will be very lucky" "I have no hesitation in wishing him evey success with his job application"

Well worth the trouble. You get a depth of flavour not present in young roasting birds. However these will be tough old hens - long slow cook, like coq au vin, or chicken pie. You can do lots more than just make stock.

Time to refresh your starter from all the junk and acid that has accumulated. Mix a cup of flour, a cup or water, but innoculate wih only a teaspoon of your original starter. Ferment for 12 hours or so until bubbly in a warm place, then use that as your stock starter. I bet that gets back to your former glory

I am not a dishwasher mechanic but it sounds like not enough water is coming out of the spray arms; either the nozzles are getting blocked or the pump is giving out, Since you have not used it much I'd check the filters and the nozzles, and de-scale it.. - you can get cleaners and tablets you put in to do this, or failing that manually add a botle of vineagr to the rinse water

Marmite, sandwich spread